Australian Rockers Baby Jane are coming in to record and mix their next album release at WireWorld Studio.

I will post some pictures and sessions updates here. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Right now the band is in the air for 24 hours on the flight from Perth, Australia. Meanwhile Shani (my assistant/WireWorld engineer) and I are setting up and miking the drums.

We also have an "intern" from Italy, who will be attending all recording and mixing sessions. This a new program we have at WireWorld where you can attend a whole project (for a fee) and get to see the whole process from beginning to end. We will also be doing this on the upcoming Lordi project in September/October.

So, here we go with the first few pictures from the drum set up. The setup will have to be fine tuned as soon as the drummer gets here, but a least the rough stuff is out of the way and we have a little time on our own to mess around with different mics etc.

Michael-have you left the kickport on the bass drum? What are your thoughts on these things?

I like that it gives me a bunch more low low end, basically more oompf in the bottom end. The extension downward works well in mid tempo and ballad song, where you have a lot of room for the low notes to develop.

in addition to those, it looks like you have a couple of overheads, a ride and high hat, and a couple of mics behind the drummer....probably a stupid question, but do you record all these as options to be used as appropriate (fading them up or not to taste) , or do you bus them to two groups (overheads and room) and envision them set more or less statically?

Those are actually what we used to call Gobos. They are there to tame the high end reflections from the drywall somewhat, but they don't do much to the low end. They can be taken off the wall and the backside is plain reflective wood, so we can put it around guitar amps/cabs to create a small reflective room around them or, by using the soft side, a more "darker" sounding area.

The bass traps are actually built into the corners of the room (behind the gray cloth) and are constructed for this particular room, so they are very effective. The ASC tubes in the left corner are just stored there and will come into play later when we work on the room sound for this kit.

in addition to those, it looks like you have a couple of overheads, a ride and high hat, and a couple of mics behind the drummer....probably a stupid question, but do you record all these as options to be used as appropriate (fading them up or not to taste) , or do you bus them to two groups (overheads and room) and envision them set more or less statically?

I love "Fritz" for room sound. It gives me an almost 3D picture of the room, which, when mixed into the whole drum mix, opens up the whole kit and also glues together all the close mics. We use "him" a lot on backing vocals, percussion, obviously on sound effects etc. Most natural sounding mic I've ever heard (next to the Soundfield MK V).

The mic right next to Fritz is a "Big Sound Microphones" tube mic. Big Sound Microphones is a Nashville company, and to be honest, I never before heard of them until a friend made me aware of them. I don't even know the model names for those mics yet. A friend of mine just dropped of a few different models for us to check out. So this one is a test, normally that place would be taken by a Royer R-101, but the front of the kit will tell me a lot about this mic.

The overhead duties are normally performed by the Royer SF-12, which is installed in the middle over the kick and snare. The two extra mics behind the kit are also Big Sound Microphones, kind of a C-12 looking model. Same story here, we are checking them out, and I placed them so I get a good overall idea of what they sound like. Those tests will go on through the whole project, so at the end I have a pretty good idea about all those mics. There is another 47 looking one that will join us for the vocal mic shootout.

All the mics in the setup could change at some point, the kit will sound different when the "real" drummer plays it, right now we are just guessing based on experience.

All mics are being recorded to separate tracks. The toms TOP and BOT are mixed together through the SSL to one track each (bottom polarity reversed). I keep everything on separate tracks not because I want to have a choice later (I have the sound for this album in my head already) but because different instruments are going to be treated differently, so I need to have access to them in the mix. I commit sounds as early as possible during the recording process, so we can build up on it during overdubs. for instance, when we are recording guitars, there will be a ton of mics all going to be mixed together on one single track.

Michael, what's that gold colored "pipe" looking thing hanging down in pics 4 and 5 (from left to right) in the overhead area? In pic 5 it shows an isolator/ shock mount of some sort on the upper end of it, so I'm assuming it's a mic? Haven't seen that one before..

Michael, what's that gold colored "pipe" looking thing hanging down in pics 4 and 5 (from left to right) in the overhead area? In pic 5 it shows an isolator/ shock mount of some sort on the upper end of it, so I'm assuming it's a mic? Haven't seen that one before..

That is the AKG 451 with a CK9 long shotgun capsule, used for snare sound. It's a nice addition to the close snare mics, works well when gated and keyed by the top snare mic in the mix. Remember the workshop...

Hey Michael....is that a Korg tuner beside the drummers monitor mixer on the next to the last photo? If so....what do you use it for on the kit?

Yes it is. It has nothing to do with the drums, it's just sitting there for tuning acoustic guitars in the room they are being played in. I have a big Korg tuner in the control room, which everybody uses, but acoustics stay in the tracking room, because of the temperature., so they get tuned in there. The two tuners are exactly aligned

I can only suppose how deep the Subkick through the Germanium can sound... Do you engage the thick switch?

Could you elaborate on the relationship between the ribbon (SF12) and the LaChapell for OH duties?

Yes, THICK is on, thank you Wade. All I care about for this track lives under 500 Hz. Love the Subkick, because it's too slow to pick up Cymbals etc. = minimal bleed. The Chandler Germanium is amazing for this (and a lot of other sources).

The LaChapell has a very nice smooth high end and since the Ribbon might sometimes need a little help in the 8kHz and up department, I use the EQ in the 583e for that. It is about the only source that I might EQ slightly on the way in, except, of course for the MONO ROOM track.

@ Michael: Do you think it's worth it for me as I mainly do electronic music with just a little micing? I'd mainly like to get more knowledge about mixing. I believe, although it's all electronic instruments, that I can learn a lot from a pro.

since I'm mostly mixing on my AWS900, I'm interested how your tracking setup on the board is. If once in a blue moon I'm tracking more than some channels at a time, I still tend to use the desk in a split setup.

So when you're tracking 24 channels:
How do you get back from your DAW? To actual channels, the stereo returns, or a EXT input?
How is monitoring for the musicians done? Auxes from the board or DAW?
etc.etc.
Thanks!

...I have a big Korg tuner in the control room, which everybody uses, but acoustics stay in the tracking room, because of the temperature., so they get tuned in there. The two tuners are exactly aligned

I've heard everybody using the same tuner make a huge improvement. I've also heard a mike picking up the control room monitors do a better job than direct which was a surprise.

Wow, this is great. I am already on the pre-order list for the DVD workshop set, but how does one get lucky enough to be an "INTERN" for the next session??? I am ready willing and able(hint,hint!!!)
Thanks

@ Michael: Do you think it's worth it for me as I mainly do electronic music with just a little micing? I'd mainly like to get more knowledge about mixing. I believe, although it's all electronic instruments, that I can learn a lot from a pro.

The workshop is about the basics of sound, basic and advanced recording techniques, pre-production, arrangements,mixing etc. So yes I think there will be something useful for you in there. It's all about the music and how to get it recorded and mixed and not as much about which DAW to use. We will do gear shootouts (mics, pre-amps etc.) but mainly to learn how to listen to the little, but important differences. Check it out on my website, there is a bunch of information.

since I'm mostly mixing on my AWS900, I'm interested how your tracking setup on the board is. If once in a blue moon I'm tracking more than some channels at a time, I still tend to use the desk in a split setup.

So when you're tracking 24 channels:
How do you get back from your DAW? To actual channels, the stereo returns, or a EXT input?
How is monitoring for the musicians done? Auxes from the board or DAW?
etc.etc.
Thanks!

The basic recording chain is:
MIC > MICPRE > EQ/COMP (if necessary, I try not to) > A/D CONVERTER > NUENDO. Normally those tracks won't go through the SSL, unless I am using the SSL micpres (which I like a lot on the AWS900) or something has to be mixed together, like the top and bottom TOMS.

Headphone mixes are done in the NUENDO STUDIO AUXES since it has latency free "Direct Monitoring" with the RME cards (so the artist will not have a combfilter in his headphones) then routed D/A into two channels of the SSL, which in turn are sent to the CUE/FB channels (only, not to the MIX BUS) and out to the headphone amps > headphones.

The monitoring is done via the MIX OUT in NUENDO > D/A converter > 2 channels in the SSL, which are assigned to the MIX bus and monitored from there.

The tracks to be mixed together/recorded, like the TOMS TOP/BOTTOM: MIC > MICPRE > SSL LINE IN. Then mix top and bottom mic together via one of the 8 bus outs > A/D CONVERTER > NUENDO. Don't assign those to the MIX BUS in the SSL

Since the signal in Direct Monitoring does not even go through the DAW while recording, there is no easy way of using plug-ins on anything, those will only happen on playback. So all signal processing happens analog before it hits the A/D converters in this case. Once drums etc. are recorded, I use plugs as necessary for monitoring. For headphone echo or reverb I use one channel of the SSL and send to FX units from there, then mix it into the headphones mix.

A lot of outboard FX (BRICASTI, QUANTEC, RETRO 176, Chandler TG1, SUMMIT comps and EQs, LEXICON delays and reverbs etc.) are used during mixing. Those are either on a "external insert" in NUENDO or, in the case of reverbs and delays, used as an insert on a FX channel and sent to via AUX sends in NUENDO.